PG&E, Edison to test Mitsubishi cars for U.S. market

CALIFORNIA - Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will bring electric cars to the U.S. starting this fall in test programs with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Edison.

The Japanese automaker will deliver fewer than a dozen of its tiny i-MiEV electric cars to the utilities, but the company said it planned to use the programs to determine whether the U.S. was a viable mass market for such vehicles.

"It's an important market, and we want to evaluate if electric cars are feasible as a commercial technology," said David Patterson, Mitsubishi's senior manager for regulatory affairs and certification.

Currently, only one company sells highway-legal electric cars in the U.S.: San Carlos, Calif.-based Tesla, which began delivering its $100,000 Roadster in April. Electric cars made by General Motors Corp., Toyota and other major carmakers were available on limited lease terms in California in the late 1990s, but most of those cars were recalled and the lease programs were discontinued.

Now, with gasoline prices roughly triple their 1990s level, interest in electric cars has risen significantly and a number of automakers are considering the technology, including Nissan and General Motors, which plans to release its electric Volt in late 2010.

Mitsubishi will begin selling the i-MiEV in Japan starting in August 2009 for between $45,000 and $50,000, not including government incentives of more than $15,000. A nonelectric version of the car, called the "i", retails in Japan for about $20,000.

The costliest component, Patterson said, was the car's advanced lithium ion battery, produced by Lithium Energy Japan. Battery technology is considered the main obstacle to widespread adoption of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

The battery, which can be charged in five to seven hours using 220-volt current, gives the i-MiEV a 75-mile range and a top speed of 81 mph. It can hold the driver and three passengers.

Related News

hvdc

Project examines potential for Europe's power grid to increase HVDC Technology

PARIS - A partnership of 14 leading European energy industry companies, research organizations and universities has launched a new project to identify opportunities to increase integration of HVDC technology into the European transmission system.

The HVDC-WISE project, in which the University of Strathclyde is the UK’s only academic partner, is supported by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme.

The project’s goal is to develop a toolkit for grid developers to evaluate the grid’s performance under extreme conditions and to plan systems to realise the full range of potential benefits from deep integration of HVDC technology into the European transmission system.

READ MORE
puerto-rico-aftermath

After Quakes, Puerto Rico's Electricity Is Back On For Most, But Uncertainty Remains

READ MORE

5,000 homes would be switched to geothermal energy free of charge

READ MORE

How Electricity Gets Priced in Europe and How That May Change

READ MORE

inflation-climate-change-clean-energy-challenges

Rising Electricity Prices: Inflation, Climate Change, and Clean Energy Challenges

READ MORE